Printiug-pbess



vthe platen,

STAR

PRINTING-PRESS.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 23,951, dated May 10, 1859.

To all whom it may concern: i

Be it known that I, .STEPHEN I). ItUeeLns, 0f Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Printing-Presses; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the construction and o aeration of the same, reference being had to t e accompanying drawings, making a part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 represents a-perspective view of a hand printing press, with my invention applied. Fig. 2 represents a vertical section through the press and Figs. 3 and L represent details of the press which will be specially referred to in the description.

Similar letters of reference where they occur in the separate figures denote like parts -in all of them.

In hand printing presses, it is necessary to have as much as half an inch rise and fall to to conveniently run in the sheets, as with less rise and fall, owing to the frisket being repasted, and perhaps-marked a little, as also several blankets being used, the ytympan will not lie down perfectly snug, and would rub in running under the platen, and have a tendency to slur the sheet, before the impression is given, unless there is plenty of room. The pressman, too, cannot pull upon a bar or lever of a hand press more than one quarter around, or one quarter of a full revolution, and if, therefore, a screw with a coarse enough thread be used, to give the required rise and fall of the platen, by a quarter turn or revolution it would not be powerful enough, with the strength of one man, to give the impression, and if, on the other hand, a fine threaded screw be used, the necessary motion of the platen in a vertical direction cannot be had-so that with one screw it is impossible, by a quarter turn of the bar, which is about as far as a pressman without leaving his stand can move it, to get the rise and fall of the platen, and the power too-one being gained or lost at the expense of the other.

Now my invention consists in so combining and using two screws, both operated by one motion of the bar or lever, but at different timesone screw being coarse threaded and the other fine-threaded, as that the former shall eect the rising and falling, mainly, of the platen, while the latter comes into act-ion when the impression is to be taken, or when the power is required, and the coarser screw has exhausted itself. And my invention further consists in running in the bed on inclined ways, in order to give a much greater distance between the bed and platen when it starts to run under than there is when it is run under as far as it is to go, and ready for the impression. And it also consists, in the means of regulating the impression by means of a set screw or its equivalent device that connects the spring (which is made fast to the coarse screw) to the bar or lever that gives the impression.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe the same with reference to the drawings.

A, represents the frame of the press, upon which are placed two inclined ways C C, for the bed B to run out and in upon. The object in inclining the ways C, C, so that their outer ends shall be lower than those under the platen, is that the distance between the bed and platen D, shall be greater when the bed starts to run under than when it is run under--oig in other words that the bed as it is run under the platen shall approach the platen continually until it reaches its position, thus facilitating the running under o the sheets, and the parts connected with it. The position of the bed, form, etc., when run out on the ways, is shown in red in Fig. 2, while their position when under the platen is shown in black lines.

D, is the platen of the press, to which the shaft E is affixed-the upper end of which carries the rod or lever F.

G are guides attached to the sides of the platen, and moving through openings in the enlarged portions H of the yoke I, which contains the several parts of the press. The tops of these guide rods Gr, are furnished with coiled springs L to raise the platen, after the lever or bar-F, is turned back, and to release the bed.

In the hub J, which occupies a central position in the yoke I, there is cut a coarse female screw thread, in which runs a sleeve, bossor hollow screw shank b, the interior bore of said sleeve, boss, or screw shank having a fine screw thread cut in it which receives the male thread on the shaft E.

c, is a strong helical spring, the inner end of which is permanently fastened, as at 2, or sleeve b, while its outer 3, to thelever F, by

to the screw boss, end is fastened as at fas means of an adjustable clainp 0l, and set screw e by which the said spring c, may be practically lengthened or shortened, as it may be desired to have more or less sweep of the lever, or a greater or less rise and fall of the platen. 0

K, is a stop which defines the limit of motion of the lever F, when taking the impression.

The object of the two screws, viz. the coarse and ine one, both actuated by the lever F, is that a slight motion of the lever F, say a` quarter turn, will raise the platen sufiiciently high from the bed, to allow the form, frisket, sheet, blankets, and the appliances generally used in connection therewith, to freely run under without slurring the sheets, while the line screw comes int-o action just at the time when the greater power is required to take the impression. In this construction, and in practice, it is found that the coarse screw will run out, and the fine screw into, action, and vice versa, without being able to detect by the operation of the machine when the cessation of one, and the action of the other begins.

The operation is obvious. The lever F, and line screw E, being permanently as it were one piece, when the lever F is first turned it communicates its motion to the coarse screw b, by means of the spring c, which moves the coarse screw downward until the resistance on the platen I) becomes so great as to arrest the motion of said coarse screwg--and then by continuing the movement of the lever F, the line screw E commences working, winding up the spring 0, and completes the taking of the impression. I thus avail myself of the coarse screw for speed or extent of motion and the line screw for power, one running into the other, or one ending and the other beginning their action, just where motion or power is required. By shifting the screw clamp the action of the two screws may be adjusted so that one shall cease and the other begin where it is desirable that they should do so.

Now, I have described and shown this invention as applied to a hand press, but I do not limit it to such presses alone, as it is equally applicable to power presses, fly presses, bookbinders gilding presses, and embossing and copying presses, or any other presses where an impression is to be made,

taken or received, the principle involved being that of a platen moved to or from a bed, or abed moved to or from a platen with varying speed and power, viz. speed .when power is not required, and power when it is requlred, when effected by a coarse and fine screw working together in' a manner as herein described.

I am of course aware that a lever, or system of levers, may be so arranged as that A they will sacrifice speed to power or yice versa, by bringing them more or less into line with the resistance, or by ehanginof their fulcra, but my invention is entirely diFerent from such, and is limited to the use of screws having` coarser and finer threads, through which the speed and power are both achieved, and which can be put into a neat compact form where levers could not be used at all.

I have also shown a coiled spring c for clamping the outer' screw and lever, so as to 75 cause the lever to turn the inner or finer threaded screw. Now the motion of the inner screw may be increased, that is its number of turns, when desirable to do so, by interposing a spur and pinion that will come into action when a greater number of turns is wanted, or the number of turns may be diminished by properly apportioned gearings in a similar manner. All these modifications of the operation of the two screws are obvious to a mechanician. And instead of two screws only, more may be operated by substantially the same connections that will exhaust one and bring the next one into action. Instead of the screws all being one within the other, they may be arranged along the shaft, at more than one point, and still ei'fect the object.

Having thus fully described the nature and object of my invention what I claim therein as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent is* l. The combination of two screws having different sized threads, and operating together substantially as described, to give a greater motion to a platen or its equivalent, at one time, and more power at another time, as may be desired.

2. I also claim connecting two such screws together and to the lever or bar that actuates them by a strong helical spring that, by being wound up becomes a clamp, so as to put the two screws in action-one after the other, substantially as herein described.

3. I also claim running out the bed of the press on inclined ways, for the purpose of 'increasing the distance between the bed and platen, which makes a better entrance for the frisket, blankets, sheet, form, &c., by affording more space, when they are being run under the platen, as described.

STEPHEN P. RUGGLES. lVitnesses:

S. C. GUILD, THOMAS RurELL. 

